Freddie CEO: Five Ways We Bolster the Mortgage Market

As debate in Washington is revving up over the future of the housing-finance structure, the head of Freddie Mac offered a defense on Tuesday of the government-sponsored enterprise model that served as the foundation of the U.S. mortgage market for decades.

In a speech before the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday, Freddie Chief Executive Charles “Ed” Haldeman Jr. also noted that the housing market, despite some signs of stabilization, faced some potentially rough headwinds from the supply of foreclosures in process.

While the nation may be “at last approaching a bottom” in housing, Mr. Haldeman said, “The big downside risk to all this is a large wave of homes now in foreclosure potentially hitting the market at prices that are destructive.”

Mr. Haldeman’s remarks came as Fannie and Freddie have reemerged as a bit of a political punching bag…